Does Corruption Cause Poverty or Does Poverty Cause Corruption?

Poverty Generally Fuels Corruption Leading to More Poverty

Many African presidents steer this vice of corruption by enacting outlandish ideologies which causes a spill back effect in those they govern leading to the led engaging in grass root corruption too

Why we should beware of rushing to make conclusions

Matters to do with causal relations of “what causes what”, “who causes what”, “what causes how” and “how causes what”, especially in economic, political, financial and general mundane societal dynamics, ought to be literally handled with unprecedented care. Misunderstanding the driving force of this series of cascading side effects is what has led to economy collapses and blow ups, avoidable wars and egocentric African leaders.

Consider the following typical homestead experience:

When you have an upcoming party at your home, where you expect a given number of visitors, you definitely go to the shop and buy food enhancements for the party. Assuming among what you buy are packets of wheat flour which you decide to momentarily keep in the kitchen shelves. Later in the evening you joyfully bake cakes, which you keep in the shelves too, as you eagerly wait for the guests who are to show up the following day.

The following morning before the visitors start arriving, you check the kitchen shelves only to find insects feasting on not only the remainder of the flour but also the cakes. You also realize that rats feasted on your joyfully prepared confectioneries. With a pang of fury and filled with rage and anger, you dash out of the kitchen, head straight for the insecticide spray and mouse trap which you get and superfluously (probably because of too much rage) spray the insects and lay the trap for the next unsuspecting rat.

You however manage to secure some cakes for the party to go on. A few hours later, as the party finally goes on, bacteria start feeding on the dead insects and the dead rat whose unsuspecting self couldn’t save it from the rat trap.

So, from this hypothetical but highly probable treatise, it’s time to decipher,“what causes what”, “who causes what”, “what causes how” and “how causes what”. We are yet to see how humanity is eternally damned to be in a causal opacity and what to do so as to understand the seemingly incomprehensible, gigantic matrix of reality.

When you look at the deeper level of the above hypothesis, one could argue that it is the bacteria’s intention to survive that presented them with an opportunity of a dead rat and insects in your kitchen shelves. But also, it was your activity to buy cakes that seemingly started this whole chain of interconnectedness. Also, one could explode the causal relations further and say that it was the party idea that led to this whole scenario. But also, on a more meta-level, the farmer who grew and watered the wheat, using the natural catalog of resources of soil nutrients, rainfall and the energy of the sun, has a hand in this just like the owner of the mill that ground the wheat to make flour.

This meta-interconnectedness of things is not only why uncertainty is woven in the fabric of humanity but also the reason why economists, engineers, doctors and all of us shouldn’t rush to make conclusions about some matters. Are poverty and corruption part of the matters that we shouldn’t rush to make conclusions about? This brings me to the next part.

Corruption and Poverty in Africa are mutually causal

Just as corruption leads to poverty, poverty leads to corruption. However, the causal dynamics are more inclined to depict corruption as the cause of poverty much as the cycle could have started with poverty. Who knows? It is like the old age dilemma of which of the chicken and egg came first, much as the scientists concluded that it was the chicken because the protein for forming the egg shell is produced only by chicken.

Many African presidents steer this vice of corruption by enacting outlandish ideologies which causes a spill back effect in those they govern leading to the led engaging in grass root corruption too. For example, in Uganda, it is alleged that President Museveni’s government is at the epitome of corruption but a closer interaction with the locals such as school children, teachers, business men reveals another subtle face and more radical form of corruption.

It is like everyone gave up on sanity and meritocracies. Students want to have their way through school in whatever way possible, not because school is hard but because the circumstances, significantly linked to corruption, present that as the most feasible option of going through the system. Management of contracts in infrastructure sector is laden with a loathsome streak of mismanagement, an attribute of poverty of the mind and a corrupted mind.

This radical form of corruption is what in turn manifests as poverty both of the mind and wealth-wise. So, looking at the whole situation ab ovo, the cyclic causal paradigm of poverty and corruption may be skewed towards corruption causing poverty but the poverty continues the cycle. How to break out of this cycle begins with the awareness posited in, and by this article. Are you ready to stop this cycle? Join me. Ha!